Indeed, crime is down spectacularly in New York since the nineties. A more realistic way of putting that might be: The city is no longer plagued by historically epic amounts of violence and tragedy. So while the streets aren’t quite as mean as they used to be, they’re not strangers to the consequences of anger, desperation, and greed. A look at crime rates in each precinct—and a small sampling of the cases that make them up.

Reporting by Ben Mathis-Lilley with Ira Boudway, Annsley Chapman, Catherine Coreno, Andrea Fjeld, and Kaija Helmetag.

Crime statistics for January 1–December 23, 2007 courtesy of the New York Police Department. Precinct populations (2000 census) from “Operation Impact” assessment paper by professors Dennis C. Smith and Robert Purtell. (Population data for precincts 33 and 34 was not included in the study and was approximated.) Individual police-blotter entries from the New York Post.

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